"To have someone else in charge of my body reminded me of being a Marine," said Jeff Key, an Iraq war veteran, referring to an exercise in which the veterans closed their eyes while the dancers directed their movements.

"When you're a Marine and you're being sent off to war, someone's in charge of your body, your life," he said. "You've given your body away."

Jeff Key served in Iraq as a Marine. "It gets it outside of me," he said of creative activities like dance.

CBS/Alexander Trowbridge

The workshops aren't formal training or official therapy. But Baca believes that even simple gestures - a bend, a turn, a step - can help those who served ease the wars inside.

"They can communicate in any way that means something to them," said Baca. "And then they can just let it go."

Afghanistan veteran Kristen Rouse admitted that she was not only new to dance but also not someone who usually leaves her comfort zone. And yet, she said, Baca's workshops provide the kind of non-judgmental atmosphere in which she feels she can move in any way she likes.

Kristen Rouse, right, served in the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan. "I'm not somebody who easily leaves my comfort zone," she said.